It'd be nice if Canon will make a mirrorless that'll compete with the GH2(and GH3 that should be coming out soon). A short flange distance would be a must along with an EF adapter that is either included or very reasonably priced. I shoot with a few Canon DSLR cameras and a GH2 in order to be able to use FD lenses and as a small vacation camera. For professional photography I never use it, it is like the 4th backup to me due to the lack of an optical view finders but it is very useful for video.

A mirrorless entry is no mirrorless FF. I believe we will see a competitor of the Nikon 1 and like the Nikon, it will have a new bayonet mount.

Planet 5D interview with Chuck W recently had Chuck mention "EOS" and "mirrorless" in the same sentence.Leads me to think Canon's new mirrorless may have a new flange mount but still be adapter compatible with current EOS mount lenses. would make sense to allow people to use existing kit for the new system, especially with video.

OTOH, it could also use the existing mount system and they can intro some trendy new pancake primes and short zooms to go with it. APS-C size sensor makes most sense to start but I guess we'll see.

That would defeat the purpose of mirrorless, a smaller camera. EF lenses would require a deeper camera body. Canon did patent a adapter for a smaller lens to EF a year ago. I'd bet that patent will be used in a adapter.

A mirrorless entry is no mirrorless FF. I believe we will see a competitor of the Nikon 1 and like the Nikon, it will have a new bayonet mount.

My guess too. A FF mirrorless would be too user friendly: you could use all your old lenses, evan the very old FD ones and it would be a direct competitor to the DSLRs. Canon doesn't want you to love your camera unless you have payed $10k for it ;-)

Ok, I've just found one "pro FF mirrorless" argument: It's the only gap in the lineup of the competitors (the M9 is too expensive and exotic for most people) and therefore the only chance for canon for some strong sells.

My guess is that the mirrorless will be somewhat similar to the G1X but with no OVF and maybe a less bulky body with fewer manual controls.

To me the most important area of the mirrorless market seems likely to be lenses, the NEX has a potential weakness here IMHO with the 18-55mm kit being fairly bulky and no reasponable small/cheap normal prime on offer. There was talk of a patent for a Canon mirrorless 18-55mm with a tiny back focus distance awhile back so I wouldnt be supprized to see a general effort to make it as small as possible.

So who has worked in the field with a mirrorless body. Try doing very early morning and very late afternoon landscape work and see how pleased you'll be. The optical viewfinder lcd is the weak link here. Great idea but at the moment a "nitch" market at best.

I've used the Sony NEX 5n.

It has a 1/4 20 thread in the bottom, just like a DSLR, so that you can use a tripod. The screen brightness can be cranked-up for use at the beach. It has an APS-C (1.5x) of equal to or better than Canon quality. Why do you think that this Sony or a Canon Mirrorless wouldn't work for landscapes

Seriously doubt either will be FF. If the mirrorless is APS-C, that would be good. If it is four thirds, that would be disappointing. If it is APS-H, that would be great. If it is FF, that would be groundbreaking.

EF mount via adapter would be the best you could hope for as well in that regards. Doesn't make sense to buy a slim camera you have to put long lenses on.

Canon's pancake lenses need to be sharp and fast. That will be the key (f/1.4 to f/1.8 primes and f/2.8 zooms)

One camera will be an EOS (650D) and the other will be a mirrorless entry.

I guess that's where Canon's r&d budget is allocated: The high volume market, old-school dlsr+video refresh or upcoming mirrorless. And from a business standpoint, that's smart, since they satisfied the high end market for a while with the 1dx and 5d3, the latter with the different reactions to it concerning the d800 competition.

But I fear that the tradeoff is that the lower-volume and less-revenue market many people here are in (60d/7d successor(s), 5d2 successor entry-ff) will fall short in Canon's priorities :-(

While I am hoping for FF sensor and EF compatibility... you have to acknowledge the price will be north of $1k and it won't be a big seller, just niche. I think to keep it in the Rebel price range, it will need to be APS-C. But I do hope it can use EF lenses...

dtameling

So who has worked in the field with a mirrorless body. Try doing very early morning and very late afternoon landscape work and see how pleased you'll be. The optical viewfinder lcd is the weak link here. Great idea but at the moment a "nitch" market at best.

When the MKIII came out and everybody started going right I went left and bought NEX-7. I'm hooked. I use it as as a light weight second camera opposite my 7D and for video. I just used it last weekend as a bonus camera to video a wedding ceremony with an old 135mm Tamron Adaptall on it...the footage is great. I'll be using it in a couple of weeks to shoot a bunch of sporting events over the course of two weeks and I expect the compact size and 10fps to give my 7D a run for it's money...especially since my old 400mm f/5.6 AI lens fits on the NEX and the 7D has nothing in my bag that comes close unless I rent.

For guys like me, a mirrorless needs to be prosumer or better. APS-C is a must, 10fps is a must, active EF lens compatibility (an adapter is fine) is a must (especially since NEX already has this with a Metabones adapter). Video has to be better than the 7D to compete. High ISO noise has to be better than the 7D to compete.

If they can pull a camera out which is better than the NEX-7 (which already is overall a better camera than my 7D in my view), I'll preorder no matter the cost.

Full frame is neat but I think unrealistic....there'd be too many compromises and I'm not sure there's enough demand at the price they'd have to charge to keep it from competing with the MKIII on price. If it were the size of a GH2, mirrorless, full frame with MKIII capability, I might buy but I'm not convinced that's what this will be....it just doesn't make sense for Canon to do it business wise. Despite the capability of the GH2, that format of camera has never been popular.